From Freeze Hiring to Respect For Leaves: Google Employees’ 5 Demands From Sundar Pichai Amid Mass Layoffs

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MARCH 21, 2022

Google Layoff News: Disappointed with mass layoffs, employees at Google have sent an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai asking him to fulfil their 5 demands. In the letter, the staff has asked Pichai to let the company follow ethical practices regarding the sacking and respect people’s scheduled leaves even in difficult times.

Take a look at the letter that has been sent to Sundar Pichai with a list of demands.

Sundar,

The impacts of Alphabet’s decision to reduce its workforce are global. Nowhere have workers’ voices adequately been considered, and we know that as workers we are stronger together than alone. We are thus coming together across the world to be heard.

Specifically we are asking for the following public commitments from you:

1) Freeze all new hires during the layoff process. First ask for voluntary redundancies and voluntary working time reduction before compulsory layoffs. Allow for employee ‘swaps’ to further avoid compulsory redundancies.

2) Grant priority rehire to any Alphabet employees that have been recently laid off. Prioritize internal transfer options, prioritized access to jobs without the need to re-interview and agree to a fair severance package.

3) Protect our co-workers from countries with active conflicts or humanitarian crises (such as Ukraine, Russia, etc). Do not terminate employment when it would adversely affect visas, which could require workers to return to unsafe or unstable countries. Provide extra support to these and workers at risk of residence permit loss: help with job searches—internal and external—and provide adequate gardening leave.

4) Respect scheduled leaves (Maternity, Baby Bonding, Carer’s and Bereavement) and do not give notice until the leave is finished. Workers given notice will be notified in-person and will be given the opportunity to say good-bye to their coworkers.

5) Ensure there will be no discriminatory effects based on sex, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, racial or ethnic identity, caste, veteran status, religion, and disability.

We call on you and Alphabet more broadly to make these critical public commitments. Our company has long touted its commitment to doing right by its users and workers, and these commitments will show Alphabet adhering to the final line of its Code of Conduct: Don’t Be Evil.

We know this is within your means and your ability to accomplish.

How job cuts in Google, Twitter, Facebook will bring work to India

In an interview with PTI, GlobalLogic President and CEO Nitesh Banga has said that the company is looking to acquire talents in India and plans to grow its employee base by 25-35 per cent every year. He said India is not going to see much of a slowdown even as there are a lot of layoffs happening in the US. Moreover, GlobalLogic CEO Nitesh Banga said that layoffs by Big Tech in the US are expected to bring a lot of work to India and the country’s IT sector is poised to gain significantly during the slowdown, a top official of the US-based firm GlobalLogic said.

“If Google, Twitter or Facebook or any of these customers actually lay off people in the US, it’s not that they don’t need to build products. They still need to continue to do their work and I believe that a lot of that work will come to India, because they will still need the talent to keep doing the work, although they will look for cost efficiencies,” Banga said.